Small Girl
by TivoforSteavo
Summary: In a time not so far away, three of our favorite interns were little girls. Still so young, Meredith, Cristina and Izzie must face their first true ennemy. Their own mother. Rated K for safety.
1. The Piece of Paper

Chapter One: The Piece of Paper

Meredith Grey was walking home from school. At the age of eight years old, Meredith had done so for two years now.

Meredith was holding on to her bag with both hands. A long piece of paper was coming out of it. It was too long to fit into the bag without folding it and this piece of paper was too important to her to be folded. If she had putted her school bag on her back the piece of paper might have been damaged by the wind or she might have lost it and it was too precious for that too.

You see that piece of paper was Meredith Grey report card and one she would be proud to show her mother because for the first time Meredith was sure not to disappoint her. She had had many B and her worse mark was a C.

She had already though of the way she would present it to her mother. Since her mother would probably get home very late from surgery she would put it on the kitchen table. She would wait on the stairs cage for her reaction and when she would see her mother smile in pride she would come down the stairs to meet her. That's what she would do.

When she got home her new nanny, Fanny she believed, had prepared her a snack of toast with jam, an apple and some milk. Fanny believed that a fruit was the only sugar a child should eat, but Meredith wasn't worried. She had already made some provision of cookies that she had hidden in the box containing all the foods for her dolls tea party her grand mother had offered her. Let just say, she never used it.

Ellie Grey never kept a nanny for her daughter longer than a month. Being a very busy woman she never had time for the help and she left the entire care of her daughter education and household duties to them, but was never satisfied by any. None could ever calm Meredith down or stop her from doing whatever she fancied doing at the time.

Even as an only child Meredith always seemed to make as much noises as three and her mother could never work in peace or rest. She always plotted some mischief and all her nannies had been powerless to her.

If Meredith decided to use a real steak from the fridge to operate on her dolls and if the operation went badly and they found some grape jus all over her mother perfect white rug no one could stop her.

But that day, Meredith had decided to be as good as an angel. Fanny was rather surprised to see her eat all her very healthy meal without a protest.

Afterward, the little girl started on her homework without being told and without kicking or screaming. Her nanny was stunned, but did not say a word in case the child would realize what she was doing.

"Nanny Fanny, I'm going upstairs, okay?"

"Sure, Miss Grey. Just make sure to stay tidy until Mrs. Grey gets home," Fanny was even more taken aback for Miss Grey had never asked her permission to do anything before.

Meredith wanted more than to just look tidy she wanted to be perfect when her mother saw her. She locked the bathroom door behind her and started to make herself a bath.

She soaped herself everywhere and washed her hair with extra care. When she was finished, the bathroom floor was covered in water, but she was cleaner than she ever been before.

She dressed back into her cloth and started drawing a portrait of her and her mother before their house until Fanny called her for supper.

"What happen to you? Why is your hair all wet?" Fanny asked looking at her expecting to discover some trick on the part of her young mistress.

"I took a bath."

"This early! All by yourself?" Her nanny no matter how new knew that Meredith had to be force into cleaning herself. Everyday it was a new battle so it was rather surprising to see her do it in her own free will.

"Yes, so what?"

"Nothing, Miss. Here's your supper."

The little girl was not at all salivating before the sight of vegetables and meat pie that Fanny presented her , but she ate her whole plate without a word. This only made Fanny more suspicious that some big prank was coming her way, but nothing did and she had been eyeing the little girl for too long for her to have hid her vegetables down her skirt like the day before.

After the meal, Meredith went directly to watch TV, but after she saw that her nanny was very much occupy with the laundry, she went up to get her school bag and putted her record card on the center of the table.

Not long afterward she went to bed. She waited there patiently for the sound of the main door being open. When it finally did, she tip toed to the stairs cage and watch as Ellie Grey started heating the left over Fanny had left her.

When her mother finally saw Meredith's report card lying in the middle of the table, Meredith smile in anticipation and started biting on her lower lips. Mrs. Grey putted her glasses on to read it. She finally putted it down and started eating. Surprised by this reaction the little girl walked down the stairs, her stomach feeling torn by the fear and the excitement of knowing what her mother though of her work.

Without announcing herself, she sat down in front of her mother. The woman looked up to see her there, seeming irritated by her presence, but not surprised.

"Meredith, why aren't you in bed?"

Meredith didn't know what to say. She didn't want to seem like she was waiting for a compliment on her work, some sign that her mother was proud of her and yet she was. Even children have their pride.

"I just…" the little girl trailed off. She had not prepared an excuse. She didn't think she would need any.

"You should go to bed," was all her mother said before returning her attention to her meal.

This may have sounded unimportant, futile even, but to the small child that was Meredith this wounded her more than you can think. This was indifference or rejection on her mother part. She didn't know which. She only knew that that wasn't what mothers were suppose to say. Mothers picked you up and kissed you or at least gave you a path on the head and told you something like "Good job!"

But Meredith did not say a word; she only stood up and left for the security of her room. There, in her bed, she cried.

She didn't see her mother the next morning and the next afternoon she learned that Fanny had been fired for letting her wonder into the house when it was past ten.

Meredith learned something very important that night, something that would follow her years later. At sixteen, she would rebel against that lesson and sleep with a twenty-two years old man in the back of his car and at eighteen she would try to forget about it through countless parties and bars, but in the end like her mother she would accept it, and even though Ellie Grey never believed it, that's what gave her daughter the strength and determination to go through med school and one day follow her foot step.

That's also what would hurt her self esteem when the Dr. Shepard chose his wife over her.

Nothing, but perfection was acceptable. You should never stand for second best.


	2. The Pink Dress

Chapter Two: The Pink Dress

Cristina Yang was sitting on a chair next to her sleeping grandmother, her arms folded, frowning to the world. She must have been no more than eight years old although her eyes seemed to reflect those of an older woman.

Even though the music was gay and everyone was too, Cristina was bored out of her mind. Today was one of her numerous cousins' wedding day and her mother had forced her to come with her for the occasion.

That's why the little girl was dressed in a summer pink dress, full of bows and that had so many layers to it that it could serve as a cushion. Of course, the little girl hated that dress and had told her mother so. But no matter how much she cried and kicked nothing would do and she had to wear that horrible thing before all her family to see. In that moment, Cristina hated her mother.

Mrs. Yang even if more than a bit superficial was not stupid and knew her daughter too well to trust her and had left her to the care of her own mother. Sadly for her, she had not though that it being June the sun would shine too hard for the older woman and that the heat and humidity would cause her to fall asleep and leave a clever, but angry Cristina free to do and go wherever she wanted.

When her mother went back inside the hotel talking with one of her aunt, Cristina made her move. She got off her chair being careful not to wake her grandma and bring attention on herself. Once she was sure no one had seen her, the dark haired girl ran as fast as she could until she met the fence that separated her from the streets of Beverly Hills.

She had two choices. She could walk out that fences and risk that her mother would notice or she could just go back to the party. Smiling, Cristina looked at her perfect white leather shoes now stained by marks of green grass and dirt and walked out the fence.

As soon as she was out the child was met with the smell and noises of the street of her city and all the fancy little boutiques, the noise tourists taking pictures and the none stopping movement of the cars going this way and that. She was free. That knowledge made Cristina feel elated. She was free. Something she's never been before.

The girl started walking fast, partly by fear of getting caught and partly because of the rush of adrenaline she was receiving.

As she walked, passing through series of business man who all looked very grave, families with their shopping bags and very impressive teenage girls laughing among themselves, people who were in all too busy to notice a little girl dressed in a flower girl outfit walking among them, Cristina came upon a street cross. At eight years old, she had never crossed a street on her own before.

When the light turned green everyone crossed, looking bored by the experience. Trying to look as fearless as the rest of them, Cristina started to cross the street when midway she heard a car hunk in the distance and she ran the rest of the way.

After having walked for a while slowly the shops disappeared to be replaced by residence that looked less and less well maintained. Although she would never admit it, the little girl was starting to get scared and wondered if she should just go back when se heard shouts. Children were playing somewhere near by.

Slowly Cristina followed their voices when she found a couple of little boys dressed in enormous t-shirts playing basket ball in an otherwise deserted backstreet. After watching them play for sometime, the girl started getting annoyed by their apparent lack of interest in her. Being bold by nature, she advance among them and started taking control of the game. This action surprised the little boys who immediately stopped playing.

"What are you doing?" asked the smallest of them all.

"Having a tea party! I am trying to play! What do you think I'm doing?" Cristina answered in her normal rude fashion.

"You can't play!" stated the one nearest to her.

"Why not?" she asked staring at him with disgusted.

"Because you're a girl" answered the first one.

"So?" she said.

"So girls can't play ball. They're no good at it," he answered.

"I bet I can play ten times better than any of you!" she said with clenched teeth, ready to prove her point.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

That was it for the little boys and they soon started playing. Sadly for Cristina no matter how aggressive she was being, her little pink dress was making it hard to play a fair game. Thankfully for her though, soon after they began to play one of the boys lost the ball in a backyard that was obviously prohibited for they all started running. All thoughts of the game forgotten.

Cristina followed their move in direction of her cousin's wedding, but not without yelling "Cowards" at them rather loudly.

Soon the child was back at the hotel. There her mother scream at her for destroying the beautiful pink dress that was now made unrecognizable by dirt from the backstreet and numerous thorns made by her daughter's wild behavior. All her yelling did nothing though. Cristina had learned what it was to be free that day and she was not about to forget it.

**AN**: Thank you so much for the reviews. That's so nice of you. Oh and to answer you're question Sparkle! If you want to read it then yes, I'll write about Addie. She'll be the last chapter. I already have an idea for her. That's such a great idea. Thank you for the suggestion. Although since we know less about Addie's past, I'll have to create it from scratch so please keep that in mind if you don't agree with my vision of things. Anyway, thanks again for the reviews!


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